Nearby Words
noun
1.
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
3.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Villain
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| villain (ˈvɪlən) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a wicked or malevolent person |
| 2. | (in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero |
| 3. | jocular often a mischievous person; rogue |
| 4. | slang (Brit) a criminal |
| 5. | history a variant spelling of villein |
| 6. | obsolete an uncouth person; boor |
| [C14: from Old French vilein serf, from Late Latin vīllānus worker on a country estate, from Latin: | |
| 'villainess | |
| —fem n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
villain
c.1300, "base or low-born rustic," from Anglo-Fr. and O.Fr. villain, from M.L. villanus "farmhand," from L. villa "country house" (see villa).
EXPAND"The most important phases of the sense development of this word may be summed up as follows: 'inhabitant of a farm; peasant; churl, boor; clown; miser; knave, scoundrel.' Today both Fr. vilain and Eng. villain are used only in a pejorative sense." [Klein]Meaning "character in a novel, play, etc. whose evil motives or actions help drive the plot" is from 1822.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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